


Cookies and Cocoa

by Tinker_b3ll3



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 17:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17166005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinker_b3ll3/pseuds/Tinker_b3ll3
Summary: It's a Mighty Nein Christmas. Yasha is home for the holidays, and Beau and Jester are prepping for the gang's Christmas party. Modern AU set somewhere between New York and Exandria.





	Cookies and Cocoa

”Jes! Jes, open the door! I got the shit you told me to buy!”

”I’ll be there in a minute!” Jester called as she placed another tray of cookies in the oven. She rushed to the door of her and Beau’s apartment, and pulled it open. She could barely make out the top half of Beau’s face peeking over a haphazard stack of boxes and bags.

”Fuck, it’s cold outside. Look out Jes, I can’t see past this,” Beau said, as she made her way into the room, unceremoniously dumping all of it onto the couch. “Was all this really necessary? I mean -” she pulled out a red and green bundle of cloth, which jingled as it revealed itself to be a sweater with bells and ornaments adorning the front “- this is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen and I once held Nott’s hair back as she puked.”

Jester grabbed the sweater, saying, “That’s gross, but this was completely one-hundred percent necessary. I saw it the other day and it’s perfect for Fjord. The green matches his skin and everything,” she tossed it back into the bag and continued, “Anyway, help me finish with the cookies. The other’s will be here in a few hours and we still need to get ready.”

Beau shed her coat and threw her hat and scarf on the back of a chair. She groaned, “Well that’s what happens when we decide to wait until Christmas Eve to pull everything together.”

“Well technically, the apartment was decorated already since Thanksgiving, but everything else was just little details,” Jester said, indicating the tinsel and lights lining the walls, and the tree that was a bit too tall for the room, but had been overloaded with decorations all the same. To Beau, it had seemed like Christmas threw up on the entire apartment, but she’d let Jester decorate as she pleased. The only thing Beau had set a limit on a was lights, and that was only after Jester had blown the fuses on three separate occasions.

”Alright, alright. Well we know Fjord is bringing the turkey, Caduceus insisted on doing the rest of the cooking since he knows we’re all pretty bad with making actual food. Caleb said he’d bring latkes and Nott’s bringing booze. Yasha’s flight should be getting in soon and she said she’d be bringing something but it would be a surprise. What else is there to do?”

Suddenly, an alarm went off in the kitchen, and Jester rushed off to pull the tray from the oven. As she opened the oven door, the smell of cinnamon and spices filled the air. Beau hovered near an already cooled batch on the table, and when Jester turned her back, she snatched up a cookie and bit into it, savoring the taste of the gingerbread. “I saw that,” Jester said, closing the oven with her tail and placing the hot tray on the table.

”No, you di’int,” Beau replied, the words garbled as she tried desperately not to choke while shoving the rest of the cookie in her mouth.

Jester ignored her, “We need to finish icing the cookies, I have a few more presents to wrap, and Yasha should be getting here soon.”

Beau finished her cookie, rolled up her sleeves, and said, “Okay boss, can’t promise I’ll be much help, but just tell me what to do.”

* * *

After a few hours of work, Beau never wanted to ice a cookie again in her life. Her eyes were burning, and her hands were stained all over with blues and reds and greens. Jester was about to hand her yet another cookie ( _they never seemed to end_ )when they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

They looked at each other just long enough to whisper an excited, “Yasha,” before rushing out of their seats.

Indeed when they got the door open, standing there, taller than both of them by at least a foot and still clad in her uniform with a sack slung over one shoulder and another on the ground by her feet, was Yasha. She’d been away on deployment for the last several months, but had managed to come home early for Christmas.

Yasha had barely crossed the door’s threshold before she was engulfed in hugs from her girlfriends. She let both bags fall to the ground and embraced Beau and Jester as best she could. When they finally let go of each other, she opened her mouth to say hello, but was stopped as Jester raised a hand, saying, “Wait. I think you’re forgetting something.”

Yasha looked up to where Jester had pointed and chuckled as she recognized the little sprig of mistletoe that had been placed over the entrance. She pulled the tiefling close and leaned down to place a gentle kiss on her lips. She looked over to Beau, “Your turn.” Beau’s lips stretched into a half-smile, as she stepped into Yasha’s embrace. Yasha leaned down and kissed her softly.

She licked her lips, and chuckled once more. “Were you two eating cookies?” she asked.

“Well, we had to make sure they came out good,” Beau answered.

Jester nodded her agreement, adding, “It’s hard to make so many and not try one or two... or a few.”

Yasha smiled, “I’ve missed you two.” She picked up her bags, dragging them to the couch, and left her jacket on the rack by the door. Pulling one bag closer, she began to take out several terribly wrapped presents and placed them under the Christmas tree. Most of them were wrapped in crumpled brown paper, and tied off with twine. Yasha said sheepishly, “I tried to wrap them as best I could.”

Jester plopped down on the couch next to her and began to reach for one, asking, “It’s ok, they look pretty anyway. Is this your surprise? Can I open one now?!”

”Yes, this is my surprise. I brought something for everyone, and while I don't want to ruin the whole surprise, I did bring a little thing for you to open right now.”

Yasha watched as Jester began to bounce in her seat. Beau attempted to appear cool and suave, but Yasha could still read the excitement in her face all the same. She reached into her other bag and pulled out two boxes, one white with a silver ribbon tied around it, the other with a gold ribbon. She handed it to Jester and said, “You can probably tell I did not wrap this one, but I saw them at the store and just had to get them for you.”

She handed the box with the silver ribbon to Beau and the one with the gold ribbon to Jester. They undid the ribbons and lifted the lids at the same time. Immediately, Beau's deep blue eyes lit up with joy as Jester let out an excited squeal.

Reaching into the box, Beau pulled out a white and grey stuffed owl. It's eyes were almost as blue as her own and it was the softest toy she'd ever felt. Jester reached into her box and pulled out a stuffed animal, its fur red with white around its nose and eyes. “It's a weasel!” she exclaimed, squeezing it tight and running her fingers along it's fur.

At the same time, both girls looked at each other and then at Yasha, before moving on either side of her and pressing kisses to each cheek.

Yasha blushed, pink overtaking her ivory pale skin. “I take it you like them, then?” she asked.

Jester nodded and said, “I will name him Sprinkle and he will be mine and he will be my Sprinkle. What are you going to name yours, Beau?”

Beau lifted the owl to her face, appraising it for a moment, then said, “Professor Thaddeus. He's perfect.”

They spent the next several minutes catching Yasha up on what she’d missed before remembering their friends would be over soon and they still had to get ready and clean up.

* * *

They each showered and changed, which ended up taking longer than they'd thought due to the frequent _distractions_ they'd caused for each other. But by six o'clock, they were ready and finishing last minute preparations. Yasha was washing the dishes, Jester was icing the final batch of cookies. and Beau had been left in charge of making hot cocoa.

_Okay, it's just cocoa, it shouldn't be too hard to mess up. I've made cocoa before._ she thought to herself, as she took a saucepan out of the cupboard. _Just gotta boil some water, throw some powder in there and that's it, right?_ Beau wasn't quite sure how she ended up being the one to make the cocoa, considering she had managed to even burn toast to a point of being inedible, but at least even she couldn't burn water.

She was waiting for the water to boil and digging through the cabinets for some of those powdered cocoa packets when Jester swept into the kitchen.

In the most regal and pompous voice she could think of, she announced, “And with that, the cookies are comple- Beau what are you doing?” Jester dropped the voice and stared in confusion as Beau had given up on finding hot cocoa powder and was now adding heaping spoonfuls of chocolate milk mix into the pot.

”We didn't have those hot cocoa packets, so this is like the same thing, yeah?”

Jester shook her head, “That's not really how you make hot chocolate. And are you mixing it with water? Beau, have you never made real cocoa before?”

”Yeah, I've made cocoa before. You put water and the thing into a mug and then microwave it.”

Jester gasped, “Beau! You have never tried really real cocoa! Here I'll show you how my Mama taught me to make it. You use real chocolate and everything.”

Beau looked to Yasha, “You’ve tried it my way before, right? It doesn't taste that bad.”

Yasha turned the water off and dried her hands, “I have tried it that way before, it’s okay, but I will admit it does taste better when it is made with real chocolate. Just try it, I’m sure you will like it.”

Jester finished grabbing the milk and chocolate, then pulled Beau back to the counter. “That's why I asked you to buy this kind of chocolate. You heat the milk and throw in the chocolate so it melts, and then…” She reached into the cabinet by her head and pulled out a bag of marshmallows and some cinnamon. “... then you add cinnamon. When you finally pour it into your mug you add a lot a lot of marshmallows and it tastes super good.”

They had just added the chocolate to the boiling milk and were waiting when they heard a knock and Fjord's voice at the door, “Jester, Beau, open up this bird's heavy!”

Yasha reached the door first, opening it up to reveal the half-orc carrying a tray with a giant turkey on it. Caduceus followed behind him, with a stack of tupperware containers.

”Oh hey, it's nice to have you back, Yasha.” Caduceus said, setting the containers down on the table.

”Yeah, I'm glad to finally be home. You need any help?”

”No, no it's ok, everything's already cooked, we just gotta keep it warm. I think Fjord's gonna use the oven for the bird, but I'm good leaving this stuff on the stovetop.”

Fjord placed the turkey in the oven, then asked, “So, what’ve you guys been doing so far today?”

”Oh you know, we've been getting ready, making cookies, and hot co-I forgot about the cocoa!” Jester replied.

She pushed Fjord away from the stove and lowered the heat, lifted the lid and stirred the liquid. “Whew, it's fine. That could've been really bad. It's pretty much ready though. Beau, hand me some mugs, please.”

Jester poured mugs for each of them, then said, “Wait, Beau first. She's never had cocoa like this before.”

”You don't have to tell everybody,”Beau muttered. She lifted the steaming mug to her face. Then her eyes flicked up past the edge of the mug, to see four pairs of eyes watching her expectantly. “Stop staring at me, it's just cocoa.” Beau closed her eyes and took a sip.

”Oh shit, it's still really hot, but this tastes awesome!”

Jester grinned, “I told you it was really good. Okay, everyone can drink their's now.”

Only a few minutes later, Nott and Caleb arrived. Caleb carried a tray of latkes, an orange striped tabby cat draped lazily across his shoulders. Nott walked in after him, struggling to carry what looked to be several bags of bottles.

”I uh, brought Frumpkin if that is okay. He refused to get off my shoulders.”

”Yeah, course. You know Frumpkin is always welcome here,” Beau said, as she helped Nott with her bags, “Shit, Nott, how many bottles did you bring?”

”I brought a few bottles of wine, ale, a bottle of rum and a bottle of whiskey.”

”Oh Nott, you did not have to bring all of that-” Yasha started.

”No, it's okay. I know a guy. He gives me a really good discount.”

”Okay, okay. Well, the food is ready, and we have plenty of drinks now, so let's eat.”

* * *

Throughout the evening, they were joined by various friends they’d made over the past year. Twiggy and Keg showed up, Nila came by with her family and Kiri, and even Calianna came by to visit. Around midnight, when the last of their guests had gone home, the seven of them were exhausted and draped across the couches, chairs, and even the floor. The soft sounds of an old black-and-white Christmas movie filled the air and the light from the television screen was joined only by the twinkling of the Christmas lights.

Beau had been slowly dozing off, curled into Yasha's side when Jester suddenly sprang up and off of the couch.

”Oh! It's been Christmas for over an hour already! We can open presents now! IT EVEN STARTED SNOWING AGAIN!”

Her excited yells seemed to wake everybody up, and Beau was glad to see she wasn't the only one that had been falling asleep.

Jester grabbed the first present she could see. “So the first present says ‘To Nott, From Beau’. Ooh, it looks like a big one.”

The tiefling handed the box over to the goblin, who was seated on the floor with Frumpkin in her lap. Nott tore into the paper, revealing a fancy looking wine aerator.

”I’ve wanted one of these forever, Beau, thank you!”

”Yeah, no problem. I'm glad you like it.

Caduceus piped up from the other end of the couch, “Uhh, I know I don't drink all that often, but what's a wine aerator?”

”Well Mr. Clay, wine is a very complex drink and it's flavor becomes more uh, flavorful when it's allowed to breathe. An aerator let's your wine breathe better than when you just pour it from the bottle.”

”Oh, okay, I see. Well, then I'm glad you got one,” he said, then took another sip of his tea. Beau thought he still looked a little confused, but Caduceus was almost always a little confused.

Jester was already handing out another present. This one was addressed to Caleb, from Fjord. It was an envelope, and Caleb looked a bit surprised as he took it.

”Here Caleb, I know you celebrate Hanukkah, but we wanted to still get you things, so just consider these late Hanukkah presents.”

Caleb opened the envelope. Inside was a Hanukkah card with a giftcard to a bookstore. “Thank you so much, Fjord, this is my favorite store.”

Fjord grinned, “I wanted to get you a book, but you read a lotta different kinds so I figured you could use that to get whichever one you want.”

The next couple of gifts went by in a blur of wrapping paper and bows. Yasha's surprise had been gifts for them all from her latest deployment, where she'd been stationed in Tal'dorei. In fact, the last gifts to open were the ones from Yasha to her girlfriends, which Beau assumed Jester had done deliberately.

”And finally, From Yasha to Beau, and,” Jessie said, picking up the other small box, “From Yasha to Jester.”

Beau went first, opening up the palm-sized box and lifting out a beautiful locket. It had a delicate bronze chain, the locket itself holding a pressed blue and white flower, in a circular bronze frame. Jester opened hers and pulled out a similar locket, only hers had a silver chain and frame.

”Oh Yasha, they are beautiful,” Jester breathed.

”They are called moon-flowers. They grow near the Frostweald in the Stormcrest Mountains of Tal'Dorei. I was told they only bloom at night during the transition of fall to winter. They mean true love and resilience, which I think describes us pretty well. I managed to find these in full bloom and save them for you both.”

Beau felt tears welling up in her eyes, and moved to kiss Yasha. Jester moved to do the same, only to hear sniffling. Looking around they saw Caduceus wiping his nose, and Nott’s wide eyes brimming with tears.

“I'm sorry, you guys know I'm a big softie and you three are just so cute,” said Caduceus.

Nott sniffled, “You guys set really unrealistic expectations for relationships.”

Yasha laughed, “Okay, I think all this emotion means it's time for sleep. You guys are all spending the night, right? Don't forget we're doing breakfast and ice skating in the morning.”

She was met with a chorus of agreements and began clearing up the trash and bringing extra blankets for the others.

* * *

By the time she was changed into her pajamas and climbing into bed, Yasha felt like she could sleep for a week. Beau was spread-eagle on the sheets, snoring softly, while Jester brushed her teeth.

”Beau. Beaaauu. Beau, wake up. At least get under the sheets so you don't freeze to death.”

”Mughr, I mnuhh, mughniyah,” Beau grumbled as she moved just enough for Yasha to pull the sheets over them. As soon as Yasha was settled in, though, Beau reached over and snuggled into her side. “Mmm, warm.”

”Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're such a teddy bear when you're sleepy.”

Jester entered the room and turned off the lights, climbing into the bed and snuggling into Yasha's other side.

”Thank you for our presents, Yasha,” she said, leaning her head on the space between Yasha's shoulder and neck.

Yasha readjusted to make room for Jester's horns, but smiled, “I'm really glad you guys liked them. I really loved my present too.” Jester and Beau had both chipped in to buy Yasha a silver ring, engraved with the words, ‘May the Storm guide you.’

Jester felt Yasha's chest rise and fall, taking a moment to savor Yasha being home, and said, “This is the best Christmas ever. I love you, Yasha.”

”I love you too, Jes,” Yasha replied.

Jester smiled and said only slightly louder, “Love you too, Beau.”

They heard a grumbling from where Beau had buried her head into Yasha's shirt, and both giggled before closing their eyes and falling asleep, the snow still falling in gentle swirls outside.


End file.
